R4
by Eternal Payne
Summary: At the moment of his death during Zero Requiem Lelouch was sent back, back to when he first received his Geass in Shinjuku Ghetto. That time he was determined to do everything right, and he did. Yesterday he was the Hero who United the World, aged 87 and in bed with his wife, so why is he back in Shinjuku Ghetto, C.C.'s body at his feet, if everything went right?
1. Again

I do not own Code Geass. Any parts that resemble the Anime or Manga are most likely from it.

I'll be ignoring the line of succession in this as it hasn't been properly explained. There will still be numbered Princes and Princesses, but in the strong rule, weak perish society of Britannia, it doesn't matter if you're the firstborn or the hundredth born, the strongest will be Emperor.

- E.P - E.P -

Lelouch stared at the Royal Guard who had cornered him in the warehouse. He could see C.C.'s body on the floor between them, their guns still being pointed towards him. Bodies of local Japanese lay scattered around, dead where they fell, and the smell of blood hung in the air.

It was an annoyingly familiar situation.

"Well boy?" the captain growled out, looking obscenely pleased with himself as he gestured at Lelouch with his pistol, "Got any last words?"

"Just one... **Obey,**" Lelouch muttered as he made eye contact with them. He almost forget how easy his Geass was to control at this stage as he felt the power flare up in his left eye and force itself upon the Guards.

"Yes your Highness!" they all shouted, eyes rimmed red as they saluted him.

Lelouch put them out of his mind for a moment instead trying to work out what the _hell_ was going on. This would be his third time living through this set of events and he wasn't sure why. The first time he had found himself here again he had been ecstatic, he had just completed the Requiem but there he was given the possibility of a second chance, a chance to put everything right.

And he had. Things that went wrong the first time went right the second time, as he knew what was already going to happen. Occasionally new events popped up but he was Zero, one of the greatest strategists to ever live, and whilst the moves of the pieces may have been different he had won the game all the same.

But that had been more than fifty years ago, fifty years since some reporter proclaimed him the 'Hero who United the World', which was an accurate name even if it was a bit of a mouthful. He had liberated Japan and the other Areas, taken control of Britannia, reformed it and created the United Federation of Nations and offered membership to every nation.

He had effectively ruled the world from his seat as president for five years, stepping down at age 24, the youngest president to have sat. He had lived a long happy live with his wife and family and had kept the world at peace, so _why was he back again?_

He sighed and put it out of his mind, thoughts like these were best kept until he wasn't in a warzone and in danger of getting shot.

"**Guardsman I want you to disrobe and then shoot yourself, don't get any blood on the clothes**," Lelouch started as plans began forming once again, "**The rest of you line up against the far wall then kill yourselves.**"

"Gladly your Highness!" they all replied manically, their blood soon filling the air as Lelouch pulled the Guards clothing towards himself and shoved it under his shirt. No one would question if one of the Royal Guard was wandering around, they were free to go wherever they pleased but he had to deal with Villetta Nu first.

At that moment the wall of the warehouse exploded inwards, the silhouette of a Sutherland making its way through the hole and pointing its oversized rifle towards him. He took a moment to look it over as nostalgia overtook him. Yesterday he had been watching the 27th generation frames, their smooth flowing lines characteristic of the models that were sold to the public rather than for military use.

In comparison the Sutherland was ungainly and bulky with harsh square lines and armour. It would take some time to get used to again, as he rattled off the familiar lie about Alan Spacer, son of the Duke of New Plymouth, and watched as Villetta's ambition overtook her and she came out of her Sutherland to check personally.

This was where things got tricky. The first time he had merely ordered her to give him her Knightmare and the gap in her memory had caused her to hunt him down and try to work out what had happened. The second time he had ordered her to give him her Knightmare and not to investigate the incident, but when she had been ordered to by her superiors the strain had started to cause her mind to fracture, her superiors orders and her own wishes against the power of his Geass. Then the Geass Order had gotten a hold of her and she'd come after him like a woman possessed and caused all sorts of problems.

This time however he could be more careful.

"**Give me your Knightmare**," he ordered, he Geass shining bright in his left eye, "**You will not investigate this incident of your own initiative and if questioned about it you will say that you could not find any useful information.**"

Hopefully that would cover it, he thought as he started dragging C.C's body towards the Knightmare, cursing his twig like body as he did so. He was young and weak again, although on the plus side his wrinkles, cataracts and heart condition were gone.

- E.P - E.P -

The cockpit of the Sutherland wasn't particularly comfortable with both him and C.C. in it but Lelouch ignored the slight discomfort in favour of paying attention to his surroundings. The controls of the Sutherland may have felt archaic and outdated but he still remembered how to pilot it.

He had a few minutes until he needed to contact Kallen but he doubted there would be any change in the news, he hadn't been back long enough for that, so there was no point in calling Shirley. But what about Nunnally...

Pulling his phone out he selected her number and dialled it. She always kept her phone in the same place on her wheelchair so it was easy to find and because of that she always picked up fairly quickly.

"Hello," she asked after picking up, "Who is this?"

"It's me Nunnally," he responded, knowing she wouldn't be able to see the display, "Do you remember the last thing we talked about?"

It was a gamble and he desperately hoped it would pay off, he couldn't go through this alone.

"I believe we were discussing C.C.," she replied, "And what you were going to do about her Code."

"Good," Lelouch said, relief evident in his voice, glad that both of them were still in the resets, "Any idea why were back again?"

"No, but do hurry home, I'm not enjoying getting used to being blind again."

"I'll be there in a bit," he replied before hanging up and moving away on his Landspinners, he had a battle to win after all.

He wasn't sure why but the second time he'd fought this battle and had stumbled home trying to work out how he was a year back in time, he had walked into his and Nunnally's rooms to find her distraught that he had died in Zero Requiem. Whilst he was glad he wasn't alone in this, he wasn't sure why Nunnally had been brought back with him but he had only regretted it for a moment, the one moment where she was honestly angry with him, the only time he had ever seen her angry in all 84 years he had known his sister.

Moments later he found himself in the ruined building overlooking the railway tracks. Provided Kallen listened to his instructions, and he could think of no reason why she wouldn't, she would be coming along that way followed my Jeremiah Gottwald and his partner whilst the freight train came from the opposite direction.

"The west entrance," he said into the radio that had been tuned into the rebel frequency, while his eyes stayed firmly on the map showing the location of allied forces.

Or they would be allied forces had he actually been Britannian.

"Use the train tracks to move to the west."

"What's going on!" she screamed back at him, "Where are you!"

"It doesn't matter where I am," Lelouch replied, idly checking his ammunition supplies as he did so, "If you want to win then follow my orders."

"Orders..." he heard her muttering to herself, apparently thinking it over, "Yes, right, orders!"

He watched as she jumped onto the rails, her Glasgow in much worse condition than last time, had he called at the wrong moment? She seemed to be fairly sure of herself though, moving along the rails at a fair clip.

"What now," she asked, her tone surprisingly professional.

"Jump onto the train," he said, taking aim at the two Sutherlands now stopping the train and ignoring Jeremiahs cries of 'Pathetic Eleven!'

He waited until the train had stopped and the second Sutherland jumped up to land on the roof. With such an open target he didn't need to worry about missing so he sent a single Slash Harken through its head, destroying its Factsphere and knocking it into the distance.

"What?" Jeremiah cried, his Sutherland still set to broadcast, "Friendly fire? What's your unit!"

Lelouch ignored the rest of his words instead sending a short concentrated burst of fire into Jeremiah's Sutherland's left arm, Landspinner and Factsphere, destroying all three, before sending another burst into his right arm and chest as he turned to try and return fire.

He was going to put a third burst in when he heard Kallen charge towards Jeremiah, her speakers broadcasting her screams and forcing him to eject, sending him flying off into the distance.

Lelouch used that as cover to sneak off, moving to a position that should be fairly safe from the ensuing battle but still allow him to get to Clovis's G-1 Mobile Base unopposed. He doubted it would have mattered either way as Kallen's attention was drawn to the rest of the resistance running over to her, Ohgi at their head.

"Hey Kallen!" Ohgi called, Tamaki, Inoue and Minami close behind him, "Do you know what's going on?"

"No," she replied, though she sounded quite happy, "Not a clue."

"Oh, well, Yoshida's group should be here soon."

There was a moment of silence after that, as if Ohgi was waiting for Kallen to reply and Kallen was waiting for something to happen. Lelouch took it as his cue to speak up.

"You're in charge of this group," Lelouch stated, although he phrased it like a question, after all he already knew the answer.

"Well, yeah," Ohgi replied sounding more than a little confused.

"The cargo of the train is my gift to you," Lelouch said, "They will help us win this battle, if you follow my orders."

He smiled as he listened to each of them cry out about their new Sutherlands, although Kallen seemed somewhat subdued.

"Woman in the Glasgow," he said, taking note of the state of disrepair of her Knightmare, "You may want to abandon it, preferably for one with arms."

"Why you..." he heard he growl, though she heeded his advice and abandoned the armless Glasgow for a new Sutherland, "But it's not red!"

Lelouch almost raised an eyebrow at that but choose to ignore it continuing, "You'll be running as bait, I'll contact you again in ten minutes."

- E.P - E.P -

Clovis used the same tactics in this battle as he had in the last two battles, even with Kallen's Sutherland running round taking units out with her IFF on. She was doing much better than last time, although he supposed that that was due to her using a Sutherland rather than her old Glasgow.

Clovis's Generals ordered a few changes of transponder frequency but Lelouch just played along with them. He couldn't quite see what that could possibly accomplish, not without removing the leak the believed they had first.

Ohgi and the rest of the rebels followed his orders precisely after the first proved to be a good one, taking out a few enemy Knightmares through a wall, although Kallen did most of the work, showing just why she would become the Ace of the Black Knights. Using a single Slash Harken to destroy two Knightmares in a single shot, clothes lining another at full speed, even taking out one with the backwards spinning kick that he thought was Suzaku's trademark.

He got the feeling she wanted to show off for some reason.

"Q-1, your map is accurate, right?"

"Yes," she replied without hesitation, "But it's only for the old town and doesn't have any current landmarks."

"That's fine," Lelouch stated, "Move into the subway, the entrance should be... huh, right behind you..."

He waited until Clovis took the bait, then gave Kallen the order and watched as the floor collapsed out from underneath the enemy forces, removing nearly all his Knightmare units. He wondered why none of the Britannian Generals seemed to remember they had forces other than Knightmares, admittedly Knightmares were incredibly dangerous to tanks, aircraft and infantry, but in the hands of a careful and cautious commander the other forces they had were far from useless. Perhaps they just found it easier, after all, all you had to do was order the Knightmares to advance and they could take care of most forces without careful use of tactics. Still it was a weak point.

Now, the next part of this battle was Suzaku appearing in his new Lancelot, and that would be roughly at point B-11, again, coincidently right where Kallen was.

That was convenient.

"Ah!" she called out, "I'm engaging some strange Knightmare, it looks like a new model, definitely no Sutherland or Glasgow!"

"Do you need support?" Lelouch asked for appearances sake.

"Please!"

"Right then, P group, move to point E-19 and take cover in those ruins and provide fire support on my mark. B group move to D-20 to support Q-1 if she needs it. N group, are you still in the sewers?"

"Hai, we're under F-31"

"Good," Lelouch replied, "Move under point D-19 and prepare to fire through the ceiling on my mark. Q-1, how are you holding up?"

"Okay," she replied breathlessly, "The pilot's pretty good, I've managed to destroy one of his Slash Harkens but my own and my Factsphere have both been badly damaged."

"Right, are all groups in position?"

"P group is," Ohgi responded.

"Same with N group."

"B group's ready too."

"Good, Q-1 fall back towards point D-20, all units fire on my mark."

He watched as Kallen disengaged from fighting Suzaku, pushing him pack and giving herself a single coordinates worth of breathing space. He waited until Suzaku moved over point D-19, then sprung his trap.

"Mark."

The Lancelot was suddenly pinned down by assault rifle fire from P group and B group, although his Blaze Luminous managed to shield him from almost all of the damage. N group was another matter however. Their fire ripped through the road and into the Lancelot's feet and Landspinners, destroying both and causing the Lancelot to collapse.

"What now?" Kallen asked, as she put a few more rounds into the Lancelot's now unshielded arms, "That seems to be all of them."

"Q-1, B group and P group, go and find the rest of the Britannian forces, they'll have infantry clearing the buildings," he replied, "N group, do you have somewhere to store the Sutherlands?"

"We've got a safehouse, but it won't be able to fit all these Knightmares"

"Take them into the sewers then, along with the other frames still left on the freight train. That's all for now."

"Wait!" Ohgi shouted into his radio, "How can we contact you again?"

"Don't worry," Lelouch responded, "I'll contact you soon enough."

With that he turned and ran from his hiding spot, taking out the few Britannian forces he came across. Clovis's G-1 wasn't in a strategically clever location, but it was politically clever, his obvious placement showing that he feared nothing.

He stopped the Sutherland in one of the ruined buildings fairly close by, before opening the back and climbing out. Last time he had done this it had been in a standard infantry uniform, but this time he was pulling on the uniform of one of Clovis's personally guard, and that should allow him to move around the mobile base unopposed.

He walking out of the ruins, rifle in his hands, and made his way towards the single soldier who was acting as the last checkpoint between him and his brother.

"I've got an important message I need to deliver to his Highness personally," Lelouch stated authoritatively when he was within a few meters of the soldier.

"I'll need to see some I.D. first Sir," The soldier responded, slightly ill at ease at having to ask such a thing of one of the Royal Guard.

"**You've already seen my I.D, it was acceptable," **Lelouch replied, not slowing his approach.

"Your I.D.'s acceptable Sir, go on in,"

The G-1 was fairly empty, most of the personnel having been killed in the fighting. Only the Generals and a few soldiers were left. Had Clovis always been that sure of his own safety or did he just not notice?

Moments later he was at the door to the war room, helmet on his head and visor down. He waited for the door to open then stepped inside and cleared his throat.

"Your Highness," he began, "I have a private message for you."

"Yes," he replied before taking a look around at his Generals, "You are dismissed gentlemen, I shall call for you if you are needed."

Lelouch watched them file out and the door close behind them before he moved to kneel in front of Clovis's throne, the Prince lounging on it, and put his rifle on the floor beside him before continuing "Your Highness is the room secure? We won't be overheard?"

"No," he replied, "I, Clovis La Britannia, assure you that we shall not be overheard. I take it this is about Code-R?"

"Not quite, your Highness," Lelouch said, standing up, picking up his rifle again as he did so and pointing it at Clovis, firing a single round into the throne above Clovis's head, "Order a ceasefire."

"Y-yes," Clovis gulped, pulling up the city wide broadcasting system, "At once!"

Lelouch watched him, his skin pale and sweaty, as he tried to stop shaking and deliver his broadcast. Internally he was trying to work out what to do with him. Whilst he had ordered the murdered of hundred of innocent civilians, Clovis wasn't actually a bad person, and wasn't that a dichotomy. His death hadn't really gained him anything but he did need to repay the people for what he had done.

Last time he had killed him, but that was because he didn't want to change the timeline too much. However would Clovis's death really change things for the worse? Suzaku wouldn't be falsely accused, Cornelia and Euphemia wouldn't become the Vicereine and Sub-Vicereine...

Still he didn't have to die for the events to stay fairly similar, and if Schneizel got to live then so did Clovis.

"Attention all forces!" Clovis began, his force echoing out over Shinjuku Ghetto, "Cease fire at once! In the name of Clovis La Britannia, Third Prince and Royal Viceroy of Area 11, you are so ordered! All forces, cease fire at once! You shall also cease all destruction of buildings and all casualties, either Britannia or Eleven shall be treated without prejudice! In the name of Clovis La Britannia, you are so ordered! Cease fire at once! I shall allow no further fighting!"

"Well done," Lelouch said when the broadcast had ended.

"What now?" Clovis asked, "A round of songs, a game of chess?"

"Of course not," Lelouch said, taking off his helmet and through it to the side, his face still obscured by shadows. He almost laughed when Clovis paled as he took a few steps closer, the gun still pointing at Clovis head, "You suck at chess."

"Lelouch?" Clovis gasped, his eyes going wide.

"Indeed."

"But... you're supposed to be deed! The Elevens killed you!"

"The only person who has tried to kill me brother," Lelouch replied, his expression darkening, "Was the Emperor."

"But he told us you were dead... he showed us your bodies!"

Lelouch blinked.

"What! I'm still using it!"

"Well, yes, but you must come back to the Homeland, brother! And Nunnally, is she alright? Show the world you both still alive!"

"I can't brother," Lelouch replied wearily, lowering the rifle, hooking the strap on it over his shoulder and slinging it over his back, "Whoever ordered mother killed and crippled Nunnally was either a Royal or a noble. She wouldn't be safe, you can't tell anyone!"

Lelouch refrained from telling him it was their uncle who had ordered it. He had no proof, other than his memories, and as far as the rest of the Royal family knew, Charles Zi Britannia had no siblings.

"Then, what will you do?"

"Stay here and keep our heads down. Nunnally's safe here and she seems to be enjoying her life. But what about you? Why did you order the extermination of the Ghetto? None of those people deserved to die!"

"Since we thought you were dead," Clovis began, looking more than a little ashamed of himself, "We've been taking our anger out on the numbers. Perhaps they didn't deserve to die, but the Elevens took away my little brother, so I wanted a little payback. I didn't know them, and it didn't hurt, not like hearing you and Nunnally had been killed by them hurt."

"Brother..." Lelouch's expression softened, he hadn't known how much Clovis had been hurt by his and Nunnally's apparent deaths, "Wait, we?"

"Cornelia's been taking out here anger on any of the numbers in which ever warzone she gets sent to. She keeps asking to be made Viceroy of Area Eleven but Schneizel keeps rebuffing her, says there wouldn't be an Eleven alive when she left. And haven't you noticed the anti-numbers legislation coming out in the last few years? Or that might just be an excuse, I never can tell with Schneizel."

They shared a grin at that and Lelouch was suddenly struck by just how at ease he was. Clovis had always been one of his closest family members, one of the two male role models he had had when he was growing up.

"So, what will you do Clovis?"

"Go back to the homeland," he said with a smile, "Don't worry I won't tell anyone you and Nunnally survived, but I only really became Viceroy to get some revenge, so now... back to my paintings maybe."

"If you need me brother..." Lelouch started, holding out his number on a scrap of paper only to have Clovis grab his arm and pull him into a hug.

"I've missed you Lelouch," Clovis said, trying not to laugh, "I can't keep trying to give Schneizel morals and ethics lessons on my own..."

- E.P - E.P -

Half an hour later Lelouch strolled in his apartment to see Nunnally sat at the table, a cup of tea in her hands.

"Is that you brother?" she asked, turning her head towards him.

"Yes," he replied, "How is your eyesight?"

"Gone again," she sighed, "I guess I'll be blind until we can find a Geass canceller, or make one."

"I'd have no idea where to start, although I could ask Clovis if he can find anything like that in the Code-R files."

"What do you mean?"

"Hmm, oh Clovis, I let him live this time, and having heard his story I think I probably should have last time as well. I never really thought about how the others were affected by our apparent deaths, Schneizel, Cornelia and Clovis all started hating non-Britannians and even Euphie used to refer to them as numbers. She never did that before mother died."

"No I never really thought about. The first time it all went downhill so fast and the second time we just stuck to the same timeline. Are you planning to do things differently?"

"Yeah," he replied, deep in thought, "I mean, the UFN was fair and peaceful but nobody could really do anything because everyone was sitting on their hands. Britannia may be corrupt and arrogant but stuff does get done. Besides we've actually got quite a power block in the Royal Family if you think about it. The Second, Third and Fourth Princesses and the Second, Third and Eleventh Princes. That's some of the oldest and most competent members in one group."

"You don't really seem to fit though do you, _Eleventh _Prince," she giggled as she heard him growl.

"You know that's only because Castor and Pollux sleep with any woman they can, if it wasn't for the law that recognises sons from unmarried parents as heirs but not daughters, you and Euphie would be, what, Ninth and Twelfth? Or I'd be the Sixth Prince"

"If you say so, although if they've had any more children you might be pushed back further," she giggled again before turning serious, "Is that the plan then, conquer the world with the Empire but make it fair for everyone?"

"Well between the six of us we do have everything covered. Cornelia in the military, you, Euphie and Clovis in the diplomatic corps or Home Affairs and either myself or Schneizel as Emperor, with the other as Prime Minister to keep them in check."

"You've really put some thought into this haven't you brother, so what are our plans to get there?"

"Well Clovis is stepping down as Viceroy and will be our eyes and ears in the capital, you remember how he always seemed to know what was going on, every piece of gossip? That will cause Cornelia and Euphie to come here, apparently they've been waiting for the chance. I'll still set myself up as Zero but I'll use it to root out those like Kusakabe who just want to kill Britannians. Perhaps set up some rebellions in other areas, the ones that got taken over completely peacefully are still peaceful and the ones that were totally destroyed are too scared to start up any organisations, but the ones in the middle? The ones that suffered but were not beaten? That's where we'll set up and root out the terrorists."

"Sometimes your mind scares me Lelouch, but what about the Black Knights? The people."

"I don't know," he whispered, before straightening up again, "But I'm going to kill Mao. He was a huge pain last time when he read our minds and found out we were time travellers."

"How, he is a mind reader after all."

"I'm tempted to contact the Chinese Triads and order a hit on him. We've got the money, all we need is a way to get in touch with them."

"Perhaps," Nunnally said, looking a little downcast at the tough before she brightened up again, "But speaking of time travel, do you have any idea why we're back again?"

"No," Lelouch replied with a grimace, "But we can start gathering some information and pull together a theory. We came back the first time at the moment of my death, and you were holding onto me at the time."

"But I wasn't anywhere near you last night, in fact I was in an entirely different country waiting for one of the maids to bring me breakfast, then everything went black and I found myself back in our rooms at the Academy."

"Perhaps, because you had already been back once, you would keep coming back. Besides I'm fairly sure I was asleep."

"Do you think C.C. might know? And where is she anyway?"

"...I may have left her in the Sutherland," Lelouch said, looking away as his cheeks reddened.

"Why?"

"She was too heavy to move."


	2. The Seeds of a Plan

I do not own Code Geass. Any parts that resemble the Anime or Manga are most likely from it.

Mao wears headphones in crowded areas to block out his telepathy so theoretically he could be taken out then. Whether it would be successful or not in this story is a different matter.

- E.P - E.P –

The next day saw Lelouch almost falling asleep in the student council rooms as the five of them worked on the budget. He done this twice already and knew exactly what had to be done but Milly was take a perverse amount of pleasure in forcing them all to work harder.

Well, that and freaking out Shirley with her perversions.

She kept her arms folded across her chest all the way to their classroom where they had their first lesson for the day.

"Jeez the president is such a pervy old man on the inside..."

Lelouch ignored her and Rivalz talking about Milly when he saw three of his classmates talking about Shinjuku and watching the news on their laptop. Apparently Clovis had used the cover story that an experimental Knightmare frame had gone out of control when it was used in an attempt to retrieve the poison gas, and that it had caused all of the military losses.

The area was still sealed off and a few soldiers is bio-hazard suits for moving in but there was also a second cordon around where the Lancelot had been downed and by the looks of it they were trying to recover all of the pieces of its arms and legs.

They also blamed the deaths of any civilians on its rampage and he knew that that would really put Suzaku out of shape.

He ignored another set of his classmates, disgusted that they would find pictures of dead Japanese cool. Admittedly they were only children and none of them really understood or could sympathise with these people, but still.

As he took his seat he turned his thoughts back to the student council. Milly and Rivalz would be okay but Nina and Shirley? Last time he had Geassed Nina into not inventing the F.L.E.I.J.A but ten years later a group of scientist had managed to create a warhead of similar design and he'd had to deal with the whole problem again. Apparently they had been planning to design a directed F.L.E.I.J.A beam that could be used in mining to strip away useless materials, but the military had gotten wind of it and turned it into a weapon.

Perhaps if he got her to create a counter measure, before allowing her to continue her work on it. One that could stop the detonation any and all of the time, not the 0.04 second window that was allowed by the F.L.E.I.J.A eliminator.

As for Shirley, if he managed not to kill her father and kept Mao from messing around in her mind, she should be fine, hopefully. She'd still have a crush on him but she grew out of it last time, and she seemed to have done well for herself last time.

He was brought out of his musings by Kallen's friends shouting her return. He always found it strange seeing Kallen's sickly persona, her half lidded eyes and drooping shoulders giving off the impression of weakness, whilst inside she was probably wishing she could start throttling people.

He almost started laughing as all the girls started screaming about the bee that was buzzing round them at lunch, as they all scattered and Kallen hid behind a bush. She quickly lost her temper though and with a swipe of her hand swatted the bee out of the air. She took a chomp of her sandwich and then looked around, a confused expression on her face.

He didn't bother going over to talk to her, he had nothing to ask, and if he remembered correctly Milly was already coming up with a scheme to get Kallen to join the student council.

His planning was disrupted by his phone ringing, but he brought it out and flipped it open. It was an unknown number, but at this stage it could be anyone dangerous, so he wasted no time in answering it.

"Hello, may I ask who this is?"

"Lelouch, it's me," he heard Clovis speak from the other end, "I just wanted to ask you if I could meet with you and see Nunnally again before I head back to the Homeland."

"Of course you can, Clovis" Lelouch replied, unworried about anyone hearing the name. After all, all of the names of the Royal family had become fairly common after their use as a Royal name. There were more than a few Lelouchs in the years below him, "Just remember to come in a disguise, tonight if you want to."

"I'd like that, and you'll probably hear my announcement about stepping down some time tomorrow. I'll see you later Brother."

"I look forward to it, and I'm sure Nunnally will too," Lelouch replied before the two of them said their goodbyes and hung up.

- E.P - E.P -

He dismissed Sayako early that evening leaving just him and Nunnally in their apartments. He had told her about Clovis asking if he could visit and she agreed to act like it was a surprise, neither of them wanting to risk letting anything slip, knowledge of the future that they shouldn't know.

It wasn't until seven o'clock that there was a knock on the door and when Lelouch went to open it he could barely keep himself from laughing. Clovis was stood there in a long orange rain coat, a wide brimmed green hat pulled low over his face and a pair of large sunglasses covering his eyes. He had also wrapped a roll of bandages around his face, obscuring any of his features that weren't already hidden.

He looked ridiculous.

"Come on it," he said, a grin on his face, "And you can take of that ridiculous disguise now."

"Oh, thank god," Clovis replied pulling of the bandages and his coat and throwing them away from himself, "I don't know how I'm managed to wear something so unfashionable for so long, even if it was an effective disguise."

"Yes..." Lelouch murmured, as he led his brother through into the lounge were Nunnally was sat, "Effective..."

"Do we have a visitor big brother?" Nunnally asked, feigning obliviousness.

"Nunnally!" Clovis called, sweeping towards her and embracing her in a hug, "You look as radiant as ever, and look how much you've grown! Last time you were barely up to my waist! You're certainly a beautiful young woman now!"

She giggled and Lelouch rolled his eyes, Clovis always had been a little flamboyant, but this was more than he expected. He was happier to see Nunnally than Lelouch thought he would be. Perhaps letting him live really was the right decision to make.

He could still kill him later if need be.

"Brother Clovis! I was not that small," Nunnally protested, "Besides I was only seven and you were seventeen. Still it's good to hear from you again, how have you been?"

Lelouch let himself get drawn into their small talk, giving answers when he was asked and questions when Nunnally gave him small signals. This was the bit she had always excelled at, the kind and gentle girl who could be friends with anyone. Lelouch may have had his elite knights but they were few in number, whereas Nunnally could call on hundreds, thousands of people who would be happy to do a small favour for the kind girl.

The talk turned to the education and Clovis was impressed to learn that Nunnally was at the top of her class even with her handicaps, although he did admonish Lelouch for not trying hard enough. When he asked how they were paying for it and Lelouch revealed his gamble on chess matches with nobles, Clovis was momentarily shocked, before bursting out laughing and telling them that amongst the higher circles of nobles, '_The Chess Swindler_' as he was known, was a figure of some repute, and one Clovis had been debating about investigating.

Apparently they were sure he had been cheating, as there was no way some young upstart could beat the established nobles.

Eventually though the talk turned to politics.

"Well if I'm heading back to the Homeland," Clovis began thoughtfully, "I can start looking into who killed Empress Marianne, see what information I can gather from the social circles. No one would ever suspect the '_Pretty Boy Prince_' of listening in and plotted against them."

"Pretty Boy Prince?" Lelouch questioned, his eyebrow raised.

"Well, you're probably too young to remember this but after Schneizel really started pulling ahead of everyone else in terms of who was most likely to be the next Emperor, there were whispers that I should be doing much better, but no matter how much I tried I could never catch up to him. Odysseus saw that earlier than anyone else and he's in a good position now, regardless of who the Emperor is Odysseus will always be well regarded. As for me, I gave up trying to catch him and turned my attentions elsewhere. Most of the court sees me as a creative fop, which admittedly I am, but they forget that I am still the Third Prince, and that if this battle is lost, then start preparing for the next one. I believe you taught me that Lelouch."

Lelouch smiled at that, recalling the many chess matches that Clovis would always lose although he did it with good grace, but he did try to learn from them, even if he did fall for the same trap twice on occasion.

"Still Father's been distant lately, more than normal I mean," Clovis continued, his brow furrowing, "He's been pushing more of his duties off onto other members of the family and to be honest I'm not cut out for it, I never was a very good leader, I followed Schneizel too much to ever get any experience in it."

"I wouldn't worry about it big brother," Nunnally replied, taking her hand in his, "I'm sure you'll be fine, lots of people look up to you, you're more approachable than Schneizel."

"Perhaps, I am," he said gloomily, "But you know what fathers like with weakness, he killed all of his own siblings for being weak two years before even Odysseus was born! If he thinks I'm weak he'll come after me like a shark on blood, like he did to you two because of Nunnally's injuries."

"And I hate him for," Lelouch replied, his fists clenching in anger, "But if we want to change things so Nunnally can be safe we have to do it from the inside, but first we have to get the Emperor out of the way."

"...That's treason Brother," Clovis replied slowly.

"But don't you want a world where Nunnally can be safe!" Lelouch continued, "A world where all of us can live without looking over our shoulder and worrying that the Emperor will be there to jump on our weaknesses! A new world, perhaps one where the strong will still be at the top, but if they use that strength to protect the weak, rather than force them down, is that not a world worth fighting for?"

"...Yes," Clovis replied, his voice slowly getting stronger, "Yes it is. I'm in."

Lelouch smiled at that, putting his palm on top of Clovis and Nunnally's still joined hands.

"For a better world."

"Yes," the two of the said, Clovis glancing at Nunnally as he did so, "For a better world."

"Well," Clovis continued, "Treason, eh?" and like that the solemn moment was gone, replaced by a few laughs as they realised how tense they had all become.

"Yeah, you're heading into the homeland, so see which nobles might agree with us and offer their support."

"Well, the Purists are out for sure," Clovis said as he leant back and put his mind to work, "But what few Liberals and Radicals there are will be sure to support us, perhaps a few of the Moderates as well."

"Can you find out the status of any rebels in other Areas?" Lelouch asked, "I'm planning to form a group to push for justice and equal rights here, but being able to expand them into a few other Areas could be useful. And what's Code-R?"

"Sure, I can find that out for you," Clovis replied, "My authority as Viceroy should allow me to access that information. As for Code-R, you probably won't believe this but we captured an immortal. An actual, honest to god, immortal. Nothing we could do to her could kill her, she just kept regenerating. The Doctors wanted to see if they could advance medical science with what they could discover from her body but I was aiming a bit higher than that.

When we killed her, she died, but came back. Multiple times she was dead, brain, heart, her entire body stopping and starting to go cold. Recovering from that's not regeneration, that's resurrection. I wanted to see if I could harness that, after all I had your bodies in good condition so..."

He was cut off my Nunnally hugging him tightly. Lelouch was shocked as well, he knew his Clovis loved them as his siblings, but he had no idea that the man would aim so high as to bring them back from the dead, not after they'd apparently been dead for seven years.

"Wow," Lelouch choked out, "Proper renaissance man you are, can you send us all of the information you have on it? That kind of blackmail against your Generals could be useful. "

"I always did fancy myself as a bit of Da Vinci," Clovis replied with a wink and a laugh, "But yes, I can send you the files. I won't ask what you want them for, no doubt there's some convoluted plan in the works."

After that the conversation turned back to more mundane matters, Clovis begging Nunnally if she would sit for one of his paintings before the two of them teamed up to convince Lelouch to join them. Eventually he gave in with a laugh.

He had forgotten how much he had missed his family.

- E.P - E.P -

Later that night after Clovis had left he turned to Nunnally and asked her, "Well, do you think he was being honest?"

"From what I could feel of his heartbeat through his hands," she replied as Lelouch began walking her to her bedroom, "He was worried, who wouldn't be, but he wasn't lying, he truly does plan to support us. Although I wanted to ask you what you planned to do with Suzaku."

"As useful as he would be on our side," Lelouch sighed, "He is simply too naive and straightforward. He would never agree with any of our plots and plans, even if are doing it the traditional way from inside the Royal family. Still, that's one member of our family on our side, three left to convince."

"Two," She replied with a giggle, "Euphie would agree instantly if you took off your shirt."

"Nunnally!"

- E.P - E.P -

The next day was apparently the day when Kallen would join the student council. He'd never actually let Shirley finish what she was going to ask him before lunch but it was apparently to ask Kallen to join them in the student council rooms and see if she would like to join the council.

Kallen seemed to be staring at him a lot, the mirror in her case always open, though she took care not to be too obvious about.

He waited until class had finished and Shirley had asked him to get Kallen to join them, although she looked a little worried that he would be talking to another woman who wasn't her. He walked over, and smirked as her friends went silent and moved out of his way.

So times his popularity had its perks. Not often but they were there.

"Miss Stadtfeld," he began, "Could I speak with you a moment? It involves the student council and your attendance."

"Of course," she replied, her eyes narrowing as she stood up, "I was expecting to be asked about it."

He ignored the cries of her friends, they'd inevitable pulled the wrong conclusion from this and that rumour would soon be making its way around the Academy.

They walked in silence to the student council rooms, neither of them willing to be the first to speak. It didn't take them long to reach them, although Kallen seemed somewhat unimpressed with the formal dance hall. It didn't take long for Milly to arrive, pushing the cart full of food in front of her, whilst Nina, Shirley and Rivalz joined them from upstairs.

"Well then Kallen," Milly began as she unloaded the food, "I've decide that due to your ill health you're not really suited to any of the other clubs so welcome to the student council. I'm Milly Ashford by the way."

"Oh," Kallen replied, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Rivalz," Rivalz announced as he Nina and Shirley jogged over, "The secretary. If there's anything you need, just ask me."

"I'm Shirley, and I'm also in the swim club. How do you do?"

"And I'm Nina," Nina finished, shifting uncomfortably from the attention that was being given towards her.

"It's a pleasure," Kallen replied, "Please take good care of me."

"Brother," Nunnally called, as her wheelchair rolled into the room, a plate of deserts on her lap, "Could you put these on the table for me."

"Of course, Nunnally," Lelouch responded, moving over to her and taking the cakes as he did so.

"It's nice to meet you Kallen," Nunnally said, "I'm not an official member of the council, as I'm still in the middle school group, but everyone makes me feel so welcome here."

"It's nice to meet you too," Kallen replied, as everyone took a place around the table and Rivalz pulled out a bottle of champagne. Lelouch smirked, this was going to be fun.

"Okay then!" Rivalz shouted as he started pulling out the cork, "First we shall drink a toast!"

"Champagne!" Shirley cried, looking outraged.

"Student council members can't drink!" Nina added.

"Oh," Rivalz replied, "Loosen up, you guys!"

"We're not allowed to drink that!" Shirley cried as she grabbed Rivalz and tried to pry the bottle from his hands. He of course was having none of that and managed to spin round her and throw the bottle to Lelouch.

"Oh, for heaven's sake!" Shirley cried as she tackled Lelouch who was busy shaking the bottle to add more fizz, "You're not getting away with this either, Lulu!"

The cork came out then and Lelouch took careful aim, or at least as careful as you can be when you're lying on your back looking at your target. She knocked the cork out of the air as she had before but rather than let the champagne arc onto Kallen's head he hit her full in the face with the stream of it, forcing her to take a step back, before spraying her up and down and leaving her soaking and smelling badly of alcohol.

It was all he could do to stop himself from laughing. She looked like a drowned rat.

- E.P - E.P -

A few minutes later and Kallen was in the shower trying to wash away the smell of champagne. Shirley and Milly had taken her clothes to be washed whilst Lelouch had gone to get a spare pair of his own clothes for her to wear.

Whilst he was all for changing the timeline it was worth keeping some things the same. He was a horny teenage male again after all.

He knocked on the door and waited a moment before entering saying, "Sorry about that. We can all get a little too rowdy sometimes."

"No," she replied from behind the curtain, "It's okay to have a little fun once in awhile."

"I hope you don't mind changing into some of my clothes?"

"No, but that was fast," she asked, sounding rather uninterested, "How did you get to the Dorms and back so quickly?"

"I live here, It's easier for Nunnally that way. The Principal lets us stay in return for some... favours, with the local nobility."

"Could you hand me that pouch on the side? It should be by the sink."

"Sure," Lelouch said, wondering why she would need the pouch and the knife inside it. As far as he was aware she had no reason to suspect him. Perhaps there was something else inside it.

He was proven wrong when she grabbed his wrist and put the knife to it.

Again.

"You're livelier than I expected," Lelouch said as his mind tried to come up with a way out of this, he didn't have Sayako standing by with a recording this time and he had left the pistol he had taken from the Royal Guard in his schoolbag.

He was still too skinny to hide it on his body.

"Were you in Shinjuku that day?" she asked, tightening her grip on his wrist.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb," she said, her eyes narrowing, "Why did you mention Shinjuku?"

Lelouch blinked.

"I didn't."

"Yes, you did!" she snarled, "Yesterday at lunch!"

The conversation was interrupted by the phone ringing, and whilst Lelouch wasn't sure who it was he would take any reprieve he could get.

"If I don't answer it someone will come," he stated, picking the phone of the hook and answering it, "Hello, Ashford Academy student council."

"It's me," He heard his own voice, no _Nunnally's_ Voice, although it was hard to tell the difference, "I always wanted to play a part in what Kallen called the shower incident."

Lelouch rolled his eyes and held out the phone to Kallen.

"It's for you. He says you'll know him if you talk to him."

She didn't seem surprised at this and didn't hesitate to take the phone from him. He couldn't hear what was being said but he imagined it was something similar to last time.

"..."

"You're not Zero!" he heard her hiss, "Wait, you can respond?"

"..."

"But Zero's in front of me!" she said, confusion evident in her voice.

Lelouch narrowed his eyes, she shouldn't know that name unless Nunnally mentioned it, and with the two of them conversing she shouldn't have connected it to him. He cast his mind back and pulled up all the things that had been odd about Kallen and drew only one conclusion.

"So you got brought back as well Kallen?"

She looked at him wide eyed before letting go of his wrist and handing him back the phone.

"Yeah," she said, as he thanked Nunnally and hung up the phone, "Woke up in Shinjuku Ghetto and stood still long enough to get my other arm shot off by Jeremiah."

He smirked at that, "I thought you'd done worse than usual."

"What's going on though? We're back in time, I seem to have to sets of memories in my head, both of which over lap and it's hard to tell the difference between the two, and I'm making a third. What the hell's happening?"

Then she punched him.

"What was that for?" Lelouch asked, cradling his bruising cheek.

"That bloody Requiem! Do you know how much that hurt? You planned to leave me behind!"

"Yes, well, I made it up to you the second time," Lelouch hummed, lining up his thoughts, "This is mine and Nunnally's third time through, and your second, although you seem to have gotten both of the previous sets of memories rather than just one. I'll explain it properly later, the others will get suspicious if we take too long."

"Let them," she growled then grabbed him by the jacket and looked him up and down, "You're my husband, I'm young and fit again, and so are you, well young at least, so let's have some fun!"

Lelouch laughed as his wife yanked him into the shower.

This was turning out to be a good reset.

- E.P - E.P -

He and Kallen walking into the student council club rooms a short while later, Lelouch breathing heavily still while his clothes were still a little damp whilst Kallen had a small smile on, one that didn't look too far out of place on her sickly persona, even if she was limping slightly.

The rest of the council were gathered around the television watching the news, and Nunnally called out to Lelouch as he entered.

"Big Brother! It's the Viceroy, he's..."

"Dead?" Kallen asked.

"What?" Milly replied, as the rest of the council looked at Kallen with horrified expressions on their faces, "Of course not, how could you say something like that? He's stepping down as Viceroy of Area Eleven, apparently he's returning to the Homeland, although he didn't really give any reasons. Something about family, I think."

"Oh," Kallen said surprised, before shooting Lelouch a look, "Sorry, but when I hear about the Royal family I'm always worried that they'll announce one of them has died."

That wasn't exactly a lie, she thought, not over the past few decades when the Royal family has been either Nunnally's children or her and Lelouch's own.

"Have they announced his successor yet?" Lelouch asked.

"No," Shirley replied, glaring at Kallen and her closeness to Lelouch, "But the acting-consul in the mean time was a Lord Gottwald, was it?"

Nina nodded and continued softly, "Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald, he's the leader of the local Purist faction."

"Clovis?" Kallen whispered to Lelouch, taking care that none of the others heard.

"Alive," Lelouch replied equally quietly.

"Why?" she hissed, "He ordered all those people killed!"

"And how many Britannians have you killed to avenge Naoto?"

She took a sharp breath but didn't reply, perhaps seeing his point.

"Drop by tonight, and I'll tell you everything."

- E.P - E.P -

"So," Kallen asked when she, Lelouch and Nunnally were alone that evening, "What the hell's going on."

The three of them were sat at the dining table in Lelouch and Nunnally's rooms a cup of tea in front of each of them as they discussed their plans for world conquest. It wasn't the best location, Lelouch thought, a conversation like that belonged in a hidden base inside an extinct volcano or some similar nonsense.

"In short," Lelouch replied, "We're back in time again, we don't why and we're going to do things differently."

"How so? I mean, Clovis is still alive and that's a pretty major change."

"What did you think of the UFN, honestly think?" Nunnally asked, taking a sip of the tea that Lelouch had prepared for the three of them.

"Well, it was a fair and just system, but it did start to turn out similarly to the EU towards the end."

"Indeed," Lelouch replied, "And despite our best efforts, we couldn't really change too much in the more war torn areas, as the money would have to come from the richer nations and they weren't really willing to part with it. And as a democracy we couldn't force them to so those areas stayed war torn."

"That's why the new plan is to conquer the world," Nunnally stated, much too casually for the aims she had just mentioned.

"You forget the evil laugh," Lelouch added, trying not to smirk at Kallen's somewhat dumbfounded expression.

"Oh, of course, mwahahah," Nunnally said, taking another sip of her tea.

"What! But... why?" Kallen finally managed to say.

"Britannia gets stuff done," Lelouch said casually, "Although the only person who can really change anything is the Emperor, and the standard of life across the empire would have been much more equal if we had seen Zero Requiem succeed, as I had taken out almost all of the corrupt nobility and a great many buildings I had built for myself would have been appropriated for better causes. Some of them were surprisingly well designed for acting like hospitals or schools for a palace."

"In a way," Nunnally added, "Suzaku is right, Britannian can be changed for the better from the inside, it's just that he couldn't be the one to do it. The only person who could is the Emperor."

"Which means we have to remove him," Kallen asked uncertainly, "Right?"

"Yes," Lelouch replied "And don't worry, because he will be dying."

"Good. But why did you spare Clovis? You mentioned something about how far I would go for my brother, but how is that relevant?"

"The only reason Clovis became Viceroy," Nunnally responded calmly, "Was to get revenge on the Japanese, as the Emperor had told him they were responsible for our deaths. That was the only reason he was strong enough to order all those deaths. He's normally a very gentle person."

"He's on our side now anyway," Lelouch added, "He'll be our informant in Pendragon, and I've warned him to stay away from the Emperor so he doesn't get Geassed but he thinks that just out of our concern for him. We'll try and convince Cornelia and Euphemia when they arrive, I'll take Cornelia and Nunnally will be at the Hotel during the hostage taking so she should get a chance to talk to Euphemia there."

"You seem to have planned this out fairly well," she started, only to blush as Lelouch gave her a disbelieving look, "Yeah, that was a bit of a silly thing to say. Is there anyone else we'll be bringing on board?"

"Jeremiah Gottwald perhaps," Nunnally interjected, "The man would be very loyal to us, and all you'd have to do would be reveal yourself as mother's son. That would also give us a spy in the Purist camp, and one in the military, at least until we can get Cornelia on our side."

"I'll still not sure about this," Kallen began, shifting a little uncertainly, "I mean this will be quite the change, setting yourself up as Emperor again."

"Perhaps" Lelouch replied, "But once we've got all of the Empire's resources at our command, we can work out how to deal with the Geass Directive, although it might be better to do that sooner rather than later. Wouldn't you agree, _Empress?_"

"Speaking of Geass," Kallen began, ignoring his last words with a blush on her cheeks as she looked round the room, "I haven't seen C.C. yet, what's with that?"

"Last time I saw her she was still recovering in one of the storage rooms below the Academy," Lelouch said, taking a sip of tea, "But when I went to check on her earlier she'd vanished. She'll turn up soon enough though, the chance to mooch some free pizzas off of us will be too much of a temptation for her to resist."

"Will we be bringing her in on the plan?"

"On me being Zero? Yes. On plotting against the Emperor with our siblings? Perhaps not. She can communicate with our Mother at any time, and if she tells Charles of our plans I'd hate to think of how much danger that would put the others in. We'll let her in on one secret so that she doesn't suspect that we have another."

"You'll still need to fulfil her wish though, brother," Nunnally added, "The removal of her code."

"True, but I can't do that until I have a fully matured Geass and that could take some time."

"What are you going to do to prevent it running away at the wrong moment like it did the first time?" Kallen asked, casting a worried glance at Lelouch's left eye as she did so.

"Well," He said with smile, "I don't know how, but I seem to have mysteriously contracted an eye infection and the doctor has ordered me to wear a patch until I've recovered from it."

"Simple enough," she replied, "And how will you back it up?

"I'll Geass a Doctor into writing me a note," Lelouch said, his smile widening as he stood up and raised his fist in victory, "And if I cast it carefully enough I can use it to get out of P.E.! No more exercise!"

Nunnally giggled and Kallen let out a laugh before she grabbed him and started pulling him towards his bedroom.

"Sorry Nunnally but I'll be borrowing him for a bit if we're finished, I've got some _exercise_ that he'll be only too willing to do!"

Nunnally giggled again as the door slammed shut behind them. Lifting her cup she finished off the last of her tea before whispering to herself,

"I do so look forward to having nieces and nephews again."


	3. Infiltrating the Purebloods

I do not own Code Geass. Any parts that resemble the Anime or Manga are most likely from it.

There is no specific update schedule. I hope to update a story a month, but which story will vary.

The only people who are repeating are Lelouch, Kallen and Nunnally. As for a first time round story, there are plenty out there, and I didn't want to try and do something that's been done so well before.

- E.P - E.P -

Lelouch cursed as he dropped the screwdriver again, before twisting round and trying to fish it out from where it had fallen into the depths of the Knightmare he was cannibalising. For the time being he didn't need it, the resistance cell that would become the Black Knights had plenty more Knightmare frames than they needed and were in the process of repainting them, so Villetta's was currently being used for parts.

After the skirmish in Shinjuku Ghetto and his talk with Clovis he had moved the Knightmare frame into the service tunnels under the Ashford Academy, claiming any spare parts he could take from the few downed Britannian Sutherlands he had passed, and into the storage rooms where the Ganymede was kept. Along with his Mother's Knightmare there were also the equipment that was used to service it, the same equipment Lelouch was using at the moment.

He had already ripped out most of the command module's electronics and stuffed them in a backpack that would go under the cape on his Zero costume. Right now he was trying to remove the projectors so he could hook them up to his mask along with a communicator, a set up that would hopefully allow him to command his forces and see the layout of the Britannian military whilst on foot and preventing him from having to find a safe place to hide his Knightmare whilst he was commanding.

Still it was slow going, he wasn't a technical genius, and this was only really a stop gap until he could get Rakshata or Lloyd to look over it.

His other project was the beginnings of his own Knightmare. Eventually he would have to take one and be prominently seen on the front lines, although he would avoid it as long as possible even if it was a good political statement, and he was nowhere near Kallen or Suzaku's level of expertise with a close combat orientated model. His own had always been fire support frames, and he was fairly accurate with their weapon systems. Unfortunately the Sutherland was too slow to move and the K-Class assault rifle to slow to fire for him to be precise with his shots against a moving Suzaku.

So he was planning to go the other way. If he couldn't improve his precision of fire he would make up with sheer volume. For that reason he had bolted two K-Class assault rifles together side by side and hooked up the magazines of both of them to a single oversized ammo bin that had been welded behind the whole arrangement. All together it could put out twice as many rounds as a standard rifle for four times as long but it was clunky and ungainly, having to be mounted on the wrist rather than in the hands, but for the time being it would have to do.

But that was just one arm, he was planning to make more for the other arm and shoulders, at least until he could get his hands on some Hadron Cannons.

All together Villetta's Knightmare wasn't looking too good, its right arm ripped off to provide support for his dual assault rifles whilst the legs were being tinkered with to see if they could be used to create a more stable firing platform, even if it was at the expense of its speed of movement.

And by tinkered, he meant that they were in pieces scattered across the floor, his last attempt having come apart quite magnificently.

His cursing was cut short as a hand entered his vision, waving the screwdriver he was fumbling for in front of his eyes. He followed the arm up and wondered why Kallen was down here, but his musings were answered by her fairly quickly.

"We have class in a short while," she began as he struggled to pull himself out of his cramped gap under the in the cockpit and wipe the oil off his hands, "And I'd like to deal with the F.L.E.I.J.A problem sooner rather than later. I don't like the feeling of it hanging over our heads without us knowing what's happening with it."

"Do you think we can bring her onside?" Lelouch asked as they picked their way out of the debris that had been the Sutherlands legs and made their way up towards Lelouch's room, "Or would you prefer I just Geassed her?"

"Whilst I would prefer not to Geass her, it always seemed wrong how you could effortlessly rewrite someone's mind like that, she won't join our resistance group, not with her fear of Japanese, so it may be the only way."

"Perhaps if we phrased in such a way as to remove her fear of the Japanese?" Lelouch asked as they reached his rooms, "I'll just take a quick shower before we head to class, can you get me my uniform?"

"Sure," Kallen replied, gathering his clothes as Lelouch started washing the oil and dirt off his hands and face, "It would probably be cheaper than therapy."

A couple of minutes later Lelouch came out of the shower, a towel wrapped round his body and his damp hair lying flat against his head. Kallen trailed her eyes up and down his body, licking her lips as she did so, before meeting his gaze and blinking.

"Lelouch," she asked, stepping closer to him and peering at his face, "What happened to your eye?"

"Hmm?" he replied, confused for a moment before he realised what she meant, "It's a contact lens in the left one, it looks like there's something wrong with it and I'll use that as reinforcement for needing a patch for my eye infection. It doesn't block my Geass though, it's just an ordinary coloured lens."

"Trust you to have started planning your story already," Kallen teased as she took his arm and started pulling him to class once he was finished dressing, "I shouldn't be surprised."

Lelouch smiled at her as they walked to class before commenting, "You seem rather possessive today, any particular reason?"

"Just staking my claim," she said, falling back in to her sickly Kallen Stadtfeld persona as they got closer to the more populated areas of the school, "And do you really mind? It'll get all those fangirls of your back..."

True to form there was a huge outcry when the two of the walked into together, their arms linked. Kallen's friends quickly grabbing her and pulling her off to the side whilst Shirley sent her a cold glare and a downcast glance at Lelouch even as her sat down and Rivalz appeared next to him.

"Boy," Rivalz started, "You sure do work fast don't you, Lelouch?"

"I have no idea what you could possibly mean," Lelouch replied a slight grin unseen on his face, "Miss Stadtfeld merely felt a little unsteady and asked me to help her to class, nothing more."

"Really," Rivalz asked looking a little surprised, "Well, she has missed a lot of classes due to her illness, you think she's not completely recovered?"

"It's entirely possible," Lelouch said, knowing that it was nothing of the sort.

"And speaking of illness," Rivalz continued, "What happened to your eye?"

"I think it's infected," Lelouch said, faking a sigh as he did so, "I'll visit the doctor later."

"I agree," Rivalz replied, "That looks pretty nasty."

They were cut off by Kallen's friend's screams, and their glances between Lelouch and Kallen, both of whom had fairly blank expressions on their faces. Shirley seemed to be stewing in the corner and the teacher quickly lost his patience, calling the class to order.

- E.P - E.P -

The end of the day saw the student council meet up again, Milly wanting to finish Kallen's welcoming party since they were so rudely interrupted by the champagne incident. She was currently teasing Kallen about what had happened in the shower, although for once she was actually underestimating what had happened, whilst Shirley's head kept switch between the two of them, her expression changing from horror at the president's words and anger at Kallen. Rivalz was just trying not to laugh.

Lelouch took that as his opportunity to talk to Nina who was sat in front of her computer casting the occasional glance at the others.

"How's your project going Nina?" he asked, taking a seat next to her as he did so, "You've been working on it quite hard recently."

"Y-yes," she responded shyly, "I think I'll be close to a breakthrough soon."

"Which part are you working on?" Lelouch asked, hoping to keep the conversation going, "Last time I checked you were working on adding Sakuradite to... Uranium, was it?"

"T-that's right," she continued, warming up to her subject, "P-pure Uranium-235 would be highly explosive if a chain reaction could be induced but it would leave a great deal of contaminates behind. If you encase the Uranium with Sakuradite, when the reaction begins the Sakuradite allows for a controlled nuclear fission reaction creating a Folkvangr Field..."

Lelouch tried to pay attention to what she was saying and managed to follow it for a bit before being left behind. He liked to think he was fairly intelligent but a lot of the terms were completely unknown to him and the science behind it? Well, the less said the better.

"Something like that sounds fairly dangerous," He said when he lecture came to an end, "What kind of safety measures does it have? Old nuclear reactors used to use control rods, so is it something similar to that?"

"Nuclear reactors had control rods to allow a more precise control of the reaction," Nina replied, looking a little scandalised that Lelouch would even suggest such a thing, "The F.L.E.I.J.A doesn't need any safety measures as it can be designed and built exactly to my calculations."

Lelouch was surprised that he had managed to get Nina to talk so much, this was almost the longest conversation he had heard her involved in, but he had learnt one thing, Nina was definitely a scientist rather than an engineer.

"Is there any way to stop the reaction once it's begun?" Lelouch asked, moving the conversation to a point where he could use a Geass, "In case there was an accident or something similar?"

"There won't be any accidents," Nina replied angrily, or at least as angry as Nina could sound, "My designs will be perfect."

"**Well I think you should start looking for a countermeasure**," Lelouch said, his eye glowing an odd colour through the tinted contact lens, "**Keep me updated on it and don't react so badly to non-Britannians."**

Lelouch was glad no one was listening, the conversation had turned rather stilted at the end.

- E.P - E.P –

"Who came last time to the Tokyo tower?" Lelouch asked Kallen, the two of them walking arm in arm towards the building in question. Kallen had told the rest of the resistance group that she had spoken to the voice from the radio and had arranged a meeting with him at 1600 at the tower, "Aside from you and Ohgi."

"Sugiyama and Yoshida, I think," Kallen replied, "Why do you ask, I can't believe you forgot something from two years ago?"

"It might have been two years to you, Kallen, but to Nunnally and myself it's been nearly seventy years," Lelouch stated, holding the one of the doors of the tower open for Kallen to enter, "For you the memories of the first time are still fresh, they occurred less than a week ago by your perspective, but we've lived them linearly so they occurred a lifetime ago."

"Uh..." Kallen let out, confusion written all over her face.

"Never mind," Lelouch said, rolling his eyes, "They're unlikely to follow me if I reveal myself as a Britannian, but then they didn't follow me the first time round as Zero either. The Problem is Ohgi, while you'll follow me without a doubt he'll be torn between following you and having to listen to my orders."

"Is that going to be a problem?" Kallen asked, looking a little worried as the two of them entered the elevator.

"No, the only essential part of the plan is yourself," Lelouch replied, "But more Knightmares would cause the operation to go smoother."

"Aw, you say the sweetest things you charmer," Kallen teased, the two of them separating as they reached the observations deck.

They moved over to one of the windows and stared out of it at the ruined skyline of the ghetto in the distance, both ignoring the Britannian propaganda coming from the speakers as they waited for the others to arrive. It didn't take long before they did, Sugiyama and Yoshida flanking Ohgi.

"Kallen," Ohgi started, nodding towards her as the five of them faced each other, "Whose this?"

"You would be Ohgi then?" Lelouch interrupted, causing the others to turn their attention to him, "It's good to meet you in person, you did well during the last incident."

"I am," Ohgi replied, his eyes narrowing, "But I find it hard to believe that you are the voice we heard, you're just a Britannian schoolboy."

"And Kallen is just a Britannian schoolgirl," Lelouch rebutted quickly, "Yet she is the best pilot among you, am I right?"

"Perhaps," Ohgi said after a pause, obviously not used to this kind of debate, "But I've watched Kallen grow up, I trust her."

"And she trusts me," Lelouch stated, "Is that not enough?"

"Kallen?" Ohgi said, turning to her.

"I trust him Ohgi." Kallen replied without hesitating.

"I don't," Yoshida said bluntly, "I'm not following some Britannian."

"Me neither," Sugiyama added with a frown, "And why do you need us, I'm sure you can do it yourself."

"Look at me," Lelouch replied, gesturing at his body, "I'm stick thin, hell, I couldn't even run to the end of this room without stopping. That's why I need you and you group, men and women who can fight for freedom, who can make a difference, I want to help but all I have is my mind."

Ohgi turned his words over slowly before he answered, "Sorry Kallen, but I don't feel comfortable following him, the last fight might have been a fluke and I don't believe he could do it again."

"Ohgi..." Kallen muttered, a downcast expression on her face.

"I'm sorry," Ohgi said again, as he and the others turned and left, leaving Kallen and Lelouch standing alone on the observation deck.

"We're alone," Kallen whispered, "They're not going to help us. What do we do?"

"I didn't expect them to help us," Lelouch replied, guiding Kallen towards the exit, "But if we succeed they will think back on our words and join us."

"So what do we do?" Kallen asked.

"Go get your Knightmare and whatever equipment you want to use then meet me under Ashford Academy," Lelouch said as the two of them left Tokyo tower, "The Pureblood faction will be moving to secure the supply train we stole from them later tonight, they need to solidify their position as the temporary governor so they'll want to be seen doing something."

"You're sure about this?" Kallen questioned.

"Am I ever wrong?" Lelouch replied arrogantly, as the two of them neared the train station.

"Do you want the list alphabetically or chronologically," Kallen said snidely, "Because I can think of more than a few incidents..."

- E.P - E.P –

Lelouch was idly checking over his Knightmares systems one last time before Kallen arrived, making sure his modifications were all working. He'd finished up the guns, a total of eight K-class rifles now bolted to the wrists and shoulders, with enough parts for another two scattered over the floor. The two on his left shoulder were slaved to the two on his left arm and the same on the right, which would hopefully maintain at least some accuracy, while still pouring out enough fire that even Suzaku wouldn't be able to weave his way through without getting hit.

His tweaks to the legs, well, he'd managed to break the Landspinners somehow, so he was limited to running, and hadn't really accomplished anything, save maybe giving himself a nasty set of bruises. Lelouch had also collected his Zero costume from the Tailor early, his own modifications leaving the outside unchanged whilst wires poked him in the cheek on the inside.

He stopped checking the ammunition levels, full for all four hoppers, when he heard the sound of a Knightmare moving towards him. A few moments later Kallen moved out of the shadows of the tunnels, a K-class rifle in one hand and several Chaos mines attached to her Knightmares hard points.

The other notable thing about her purloined Sutherland was the colour, the entire thing had been sprayed red, rather badly Lelouch thought. How Kallen had managed not to cake the joints with paint he didn't know.

"Are you ready?" Lelouch asked on an open channel.

"Yeah!" Kallen shouted back, "Let's do this!"

"Good," Lelouch replied, reaching for the radio as he did so, "Change to channel 3."

"Check," Came Kallen's reply through the new channel a few moments later.

"Check, now follow me," Lelouch stated as he began heading through the tunnels, Kallen a few meters behind him, before he continued, "As far as I'm aware there have been no changes in Britannian military frequencies since the last engagement so we will still know the enemy positions,"

"Good," Kallen said, "What are your orders?"

"We'll come out near them and find an overlooking location," Lelouch started, the two of them moving round a piece of fallen debris, "I'll take as many of them out as I can at range, then provide you with covering fire while you move in to capture Jeremiah Gottwald, codenamed Orange."

"Nice and original," Kallen muttered.

"While you remove him I'll take out the rest of the Pureblood faction," Lelouch continued, ignoring Kallen's interruption, "Then we turn Orange and ransom him back to the Britannian government."

"We're going to hold our own spy to ransom, to the people we want him to spy on," Kallen said slowly, staring at the back of Lelouch's Knightmare, "I swear only you could come up with a plan that can be this stupid and this sneaky at the same time."

"I try."

"What are we going to do if they don't accept the ransom?" Kallen questioned, "We can't kill our own spy and we can't let him go either, and what will the ransom be?"

"They won't reject the ransom," Lelouch stated confidently, "The government is still made up of the people Clovis put into office, they won't have the guts to say no, and the only people who do are the Purebloods, who we'll wipe out. As for the ransom, we trade Orange's life for the release and amnesty of various Japanese political prisoners Britannian is holding, they'll be more willing to let people go than pay money, despite the prisoners being more valuable to us."

"Okay," Kallen replied, before adding, "I don't know why I bother to question you about your plans, you always have an answer for everything."

"Keeps me on my toes," Lelouch answered then stopped and checked his map before announcing, "We're here."

The two of them crept out onto a street a few roads east of the still stopped train, the slowly moved into the same position in the ruined building overlooking the railway line that Lelouch had held a few days ago. There was a single Pureblood Sutherland already standing near the train, probably a scout of some sort, so they settled down and waited for the rest of the Pureblood faction to arrive.

Fortunately they didn't have long to wait, neither of them willing to break radio silence for a little entertainment, and they both moved closer to the edge of the ruin when they saw the column of a dozen Knightmare frames arrive on their tactical map and later into visual range.

"Orange?" Kallen asked, running her Factsphere up and down the line of Sutherlands.

"The one with the cape." Lelouch replied, "On my mark sprint towards them and take out Orange, ready?"

"Ready," Kallen responded.

Lelouch wasted no time, quickly swinging his arms up and opening fire on the Pureblood Sutherlands. The first few seconds they were taken by surprise and he easily scythed down three of them to Orange's left before the rest started to seek cover. He swept his guns down the line, taking out another one, and sending a great many shots into the cover and surroundings of the Purebloods before shouting, "Mark!"

Kallen sprinted past him, planting one foot on the edge of the ruins and throwing her Knightmare skywards before firing both her Slash Harkens. One slammed into a Pureblood, the Knightmare stopping instantly, and the other anchored itself to the train then both of them reeled Kallen at high speed towards Jeremiah and the remaining purebloods. Two short bursts of fire destroyed another two Sutherlands as she smashed into a third, using its body to shield her from the retaliating fire before unhooking a chaos mine and taking out another Pureblood, as well as forcing a damaged fifth back into cover.

"I feel so redundant," Lelouch muttered, resqueezing the triggers every time a Sutherland put itself into his line of sight, Kallen's continuing rampage claiming another two victims, along with Orange's arm.

He ignored the Britannian cries for reinforcement, there wouldn't be any coming, the government didn't want to waste any more Knightmares against a pilot of Kallen's level and Suzaku and his Lancelot were still out of commission from the last battle. They were cut off fairly quickly though, Kallen mowing through the last few Knightmares surrounding Orange before she grabbed his cockpit and jumped over the edge of the railway line with it, leaving Lelouch to clear up the remaining Purebloods.

According to the tactical map there were two left, both of them taking cover inside the train and returning fire out of the gap between the doors. Lelouch stared at the carriage, the doors were only being held by two brakes there and there...

Moments later he sent his two Slash Harkens flying, one at each brake, both of them scoring a direct hit, causing the doors to slide open and the two Sutherlands to suddenly be exposed. Lelouch gave a grim smile as he opened fire once again, gunning the two of them down and eradicating the last of the Purebloods.

"You've secured Orange Kallen?" He asked into the radio, reeling his Slash Harkens back and turning to leave the ruin.

"Yes," Kallen replied, "Location One was compromised so I moved him to Location Two."

"Good, I'll be there in a moment," Lelouch said, before the appearance of a blinking icon on his tactical map drew his attention. The single machine was moving at high speed towards his previous location and the non-standard designation meant it could be only one person, "Q-1, the Lancelot is incoming, requesting assistance!"

Kallen acknowledged him and Lelouch quickly moved to find a good position. Suzaku would most likely charge straight to the target, relying on his Blaze Luminous to shield him from incoming fire. That meant that the best location to attack would be there, a nearby street that had been cleared of debris by virtue of shoving it all to the side. The wide open street would provide him with a clear line of fire and the debris would prevent Suzaku from leaving the street, allowing Lelouch to unload all eight barrels into his Knightmare.

Suzaku was moving quickly however, which almost didn't give Lelouch enough time to get to his planned location. When he did get though he was slightly relived as the Lancelot didn't look like it had been fully repaired. One of the MVS's was missing and his left Blaze Luminous appeared to be in the middle of repairs, along with various sections of his armour being factory grey with other parts missing completely.

The two Knightmares stood there for a moment, both at either end of the street, before the Lancelot lent forward and started sprinting at Lelouch's Knightmare. Lelouch raised both his arms and open fire with all his guns, slowly taken steps back as he did so, hoping to maintain some distance from the Lancelot for as long as he could.

The Lancelot quickly dodged to the side, avoiding Lelouch's first salvo, before leaping up and using a single Slash Harken to pull himself over the rain of bullets that was tracking towards him and to the other side of the street. The Lancelot continued to duck and dodge over the street, inexorably making its way closer and closer to Lelouch, who continued to empty his guns towards it.

"Oh, this just isn't fair," Lelouch muttered, checking his ammunition levels and finding them getting worrying low, continuing into the radio "Q-1, Hurry up!"

He took another step back, just as the Lancelot reached him and unsheathed its single Maser Vibration Sword. It lunged forward, Lelouch's weapons finally running dry and ceasing to fire, and swung the MVS in a smooth arc from under his left arm, through his Factsphere and down through his right shoulder.

"Ah, come on!" Lelouch shouted angrily as both of his Knightmare's arms fell to the ground and the Lancelot drew the sword back in preparation for another swing.

Fortunately for Lelouch he was saved from being stabbed by the MVS by Kallen's arrival, both of her Slash Harkens anchoring themselves to either side of the Lancelot causing her to be reeled into the Lancelot at terminal velocity. Its newly repaired legs resisted for a moment before it went crashing to the ground, Kallen's Knightmare quickly moving off of the Lancelot and spraying it with a short burst from her rifle.

"You're late," Lelouch said sourly, spearing his fallen arms with his Slash Harkens and resolving to reattach them later, "Let's just get to Location Two," He continued, cutting off her response.

- E.P - E.P -

Location Two turned out to be a nearby warehouse, one that had been abandoned during the fighting for the ghetto. Orange's cockpit was jammed up against the wall, the muffled shouts coming from it showing that he was unable to get out. Both Lelouch's and Kallen's Knightmares stopped in the middle of the warehouse, Lelouch jumping out of his and inspecting the arms that had been dragged behind his Knightmare, while Kallen moved the cockpit and aimed her rifle at it.

"Come out, Jeremiah Gottwald," Lelouch said, his mask changing it to the mechanical voice of Zero, "I wish to speak with you."

A few moments passed before Jeremiah came out form the cockpit, looking a little roughed up from Kallens heavy handling, and stood before the masked man. Jeremiah cast a wary glance at the red Knightmare but turned and glared at Zero then opened his mouth and spoke,

"So," Jeremiah started, "You are the Terrorists who murdered my men. I don't know what you want with me, but my loyalty to the Royal Family is absolute!"

"Oh?" Zero replied, pleased that the conversation was already moving in the direction he wanted to, "Then why are you here, in Japan, rather than in the Britannian Homeland, where you could serve them directly? Could it be that you are loyal more to Clovis than any other?"

"My loyalty lies with the Vi Britannia's!" Jeremiah shouted, taken a threatening step forward before stopping when Kallen raised her rifle in his direction, "I would serve them more than any other member, and I shall avenge their memory!"

"But even between the Vi Britannia's," Zero continued, ignoring Jeremiah's raised voice and sweeping his hands open, as if weighing two choices, "Would you choose Marianne, who is dead, or her children, who are alive?"

"Prince Lelouch and Princess Nunnally?" Jeremiah reared back as if struck, "They're alive?"

"Which would you choose?" Zero persisted.

"I would choose the Prince and Princess," Jeremiah replied, "I must atone for my failures towards them!"

"Good," Zero stated, before extending a hand towards Jeremiah, "Then join me, and you shall see them again..."

Jeremiah paused a moment, then reached out and took Zero's hand. Underneath his mask, Lelouch smiled.

- E.P - E.P –

Clovis's cabinet stared at horror at the video that had been delivered to them that was now playing upon the screen before them. In it the temporary Governor Jeremiah Gottwald was shown on his knees, a masked woman behind him holding a pistol to his head, while an elaborated dressed and masked Terrorist calling himself Zero had given them a list of demands in return for the Governors safety.

"Release the Elevens we have prisoner!" One of them snapped, "We can't afford to have to pay for the Governors return!"

"Not when we have Viceroy Clovis's art exhibition to fund!" Another added, "Must we rescue the Governor?"

"We can't allow a Noble to be harmed!" Someone interjected.

"Besides, what use are the prisoners?" A third began, "They were a minor nuisance at the worst, if this ... Zero ... wants them, his welcome to have them!"

"Right," Came a fourth voice, "Now, on to more important matters. The arrival ceremony for Princesses Cornelia and Euphemia Li Britannia, have the correct decorations arrived?"


End file.
